


Who Will Be Your Rock?

by Mad_Muse_Musings



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode s01e13: T.R.A.C.K.S., Gen, Spoilers for episode 13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 10:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Muse_Musings/pseuds/Mad_Muse_Musings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of episode 13, Melinda tries to be everyone's rock, but at some point even the rock needs the cliff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Will Be Your Rock?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beerbad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beerbad/gifts).



> I supposed I should apologize because I am not fond of the Ward/May relationship. So... apologies?

Melinda was going to break into a thousand pieces. She could feel the telltale hum right under her skin, and the only thing that was holding her together was her own arms wrapped around her middle while she watched Phil mourn over Skye.

Silently she watched Ward leave, only to punch the hood of the SUV. And she understood, she really did. The need to beat the crap out of something until everything was right. So she left Phil, for the time being, she would come back to hold him while he cried, because she knew he would, and instead stood by Ward and let his rage roll off while she offered the appropriate responses.

But then he crossed the line. Truth be told she didn’t know if Ward was insinuating that Phil was where he was laying the blame, or herself. Her gut told it that the blame was probably being laid at her feet, like always.

“You know, I heard that conversation.” She said after a minute.

Ward turned to her, confusion clear.

“Phil, giving you the shovel talk. Or at least his version of it, and the lecture about how you need to learn to say sex.” Melinda clarified after a moment. “He’s right. Learn to say the damn word. I’m not dating you, I don’t want to be dating you. I want to continue to occasionally have sex with a warm body instead of cold plastic, but you need to grow up. This is no one’s fault but Quinn’s. He pulled the trigger, not Phil. Not me.” She was almost whispering at the end.

Ward was looking at her much like he did on the train when she told him that she had already told Phil that they were having sex, the same mixture of disbelief and confusion.

“Punch your way through it, or whatever you need to do, Ward. But don’t come to me tonight, and do not make Phil feel guilty. Because if you do, I promise you, even he won’t be able to protect you from what I will do to you. Being burned by him would be the least of your worries.” Melinda said, before stepping away from Ward and back to the lab.

“Phil.” She whispered once the doors closed behind her.

“I can’t lose her, Melinda.” His hands were spread wide over the clear glass that kept her out of arms reach like some modern day Snow White.

“I know.” Melinda answered, carefully pulling him away and into her arms, ignoring the fire that burned in her shoulder. If a few tears slipped out while she wrapped him tightly in her arms, she would chalk them up to her injury. Not that she couldn’t lose Skye either. Because then she would have to admit things that she wasn’t ready to handle yet. Not with Skye in the hyperbaric chamber.

“What are we going to do?” Phil asked against her shoulder.

 “We are going to fight for her. We’ll land at the SHIELD site and they will take care of her, Phil. Simmons can keep her alive till then.” Carefully she shifted her fingers through his hair, pressing her lips to his temple. “She’ll be okay.”

When he finally broke away, Melinda quickly wiped the lipstick stain away from his temple.

“Are you okay?” Phil finally asked her, and she returned a tight smile, meant to assure him that she was fine.

But he never got time to debate with her when she heard Simmons fall apart in the storage room. Melinda quickly slid into the room, and gently extracted Jemma from Fitz’s arms.

“It’s okay. I’ve got her.” She whispered sinking to the ground with Jemma in her arms, pulling the younger woman tight into her chest. “Shhh, shh, it’s okay Simmons.”

“What – what if I can’t – what if I can’t – can’t keep her alive?” Jemma choked out, her body shaking with her sobbing.

“You can’t think like that. Head up and look forward. You can keep her alive until we get to SHIELD, and then it’s on those doctors right?”

Jemma nodded weakly against Melinda’s chest. Melinda gently shifts Jemma, ignoring the pain flaring in her shoulder yet again, to pick Jemma up and place the girl in her lap. Rocking gently, Melinda hugged her with every ounce of her strength, trying to keep Jemma from falling apart like she so desperately wanted.

When Jemma finally calmed down enough to pull herself out of Melinda’s hug and look thoroughly embarrassed, Melinda smiled tightly, pushing herself off the floor.

“It will be okay, Simmons.” Melinda promised, for the second time. Slipping back into the lab before Jemma, she saw Phil had left and that Ward was gone as well. Fitz though was tinkering with something, and she figured that was how he would handle this. Throw himself into his work, just like Stark did according to Phil. “You know where to find me if you need me, Fitz.” Melinda offered before leaving him alone with his project.

Which left Melinda alone with herself for the first time in hours. She had every intention of going to the cockpit and watching the sky. That was normally her happy place. Instead she found herself in Skye’s room, sitting on the bed and fisting the sheet to her face. Taking a deep breath she let the citrusy smell of Skye’s body wash was over her, and that was when the first tear escaped. And once she started she couldn’t stop. Sobs wracked her body until she was just shaking, holding the now tear stained sheet to her face, while she sat on the bed.

Phil was the first one to find her. Slipping silently into the room and sitting beside her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, before remembering her wound.

Pulling back he pushed her jacket off as far as possible with her holding the sheets. Even without moving her bra strap and tank top strap he could see the blood blooming on the gauze.

“Melinda, you pulled your wound open.” Phil said, his fingers gently pulling the straps away before pulling the gauze away.

“I’m fine.” She hissed, fingers tightening on the sheets.

“Let me take care of you.” Jemma said from the door way.

“I’m fine. You need to focus on Skye.” Melinda ground out, her voice was thick from her tears.

“I can’t do anything else for her right now. Please, May, let me take care of you.” Jemma begged.

“Fine.” She finally growled.

Jemma quickly sank onto the bed, a kit already being laid out beside her. She was silent as she worked, dragging antiseptic across the wound to remove the dried blood before applying far more of the liquid stitches than Phil had, and far more than what was required. But Melinda held her tongue as Jemma’s delicate fingers pressed clean gauze over the wound again and moved her straps to hold it in place.

“Thank you.” Jemma whispered, packing her kit away.

Melinda pulled the sheets away, dropping them in her lap and pulled herself the rest of the way out of the jacket before looking at Jemma with confusion.

“For what?”

“You took care of me.” Jemma answered before taking a spot on the other side of Melinda, putting her head on her uninjured shoulder.

“You took care of all of us. Let us be your rock, Melinda.” Phil added, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.


End file.
